The Himalayas and Western Ghats are two prominent mountain ranges in India. A landslide is defined as the movement of a mass of rock, debris, or earth down a slope.

The Himalayas witness more frequent landslides than the Western Ghats. The causes for such variations could be :

1. Age – The Himalayan range is one of the world’s newest tertiary fold mountains. The Himalayas are thus a tectonically active mountain chain. Tectonic movement raises the likelihood of earthquakes and landslides.

2.Vegetation: The Himalayas lend to lack dense vegetation cover due to the high altitude and cold climate, which ultimately results in less soil stability and a higher risk of landslides. The Western Ghats on the other hand have dense vegetation cover, which eliminates the above risk of soil instability and  reduce the risk of landslides.

Topography: The Himalayan rivers form deep gorges as the slope of the river is quite high which results in a rugged topography steep hillsides that are prone to landslides. The Western Ghats have a more gentle topography with fewer steep slopes.

In conclusion, the physical aspects combined with human activity of intensive deforestation has led to more frequent landslides in the Himalayan region when compared to the western ghats